Great works and craftmanship ! I need a small press just like this. Your design is simpler and cost effective by utilizing a single rectangular pipe and adding 2 bolts to the limiting plate. What I was thinking is basically scaled down version of full size manual hydraulic press. After I saw your video, I realized I don't need side rectangular pipes for a small press having head traveling upto 8 inches. Thank you.
Fascinating! I take it you re-handle a lot of axes? It’s great to see a how-to video where the craftsman is thorough and meticulous, prepping the metal properly and priming and painting the finished project. I don’t need this particular tool, but I’m subscribing to see what else you come up with! Thanks.
I'm genuinely shocked that bottle jack wasn't cast iron and took the weld so well. This is great work. Maybe on the next prototype you add a return spring, but this looks very functional and precise as-is.
joedanger666 the cheaper newer versions are usually just plate on the bottom and contrary to belief you can mig cast iron as long as it's not super structural. I repaired a broken bearring race on a belt sander 3 years ago and still going.
Great idea for making a press and nice fabrication. For putting in wedges or pushing out old handles I have two bench vices mounted one in front of the other a foot apart. One holds the axe. One holds the bottle jack. Easy to tap in a wedge and push it in with the jack. To push a broken handle out use a piece of steel that will slide through the eye. Hold on end of eye and push through with the bottle jack.
I have just watched this video. You are an awesome craftsman and I would let you build anything I wanted built.... I really like how you took the time and done everything slow and right the first time (not including the little miscalculation, I liked that as well )
For those of us who want to weld, but haven’t taken the time to learn, could you add some brief information about the welding process you used, and the type of rod, if that is important to this welding process in this situation. This could be added to the “show more” box, without adding anything to the video. This is a great idea and a really well made video. Thanks for the excellent tip for reusing a bottle jack for various purposes around the shop, including as a wedge jack when rehandling axes. Consider squirting some glue into the slot in the axe handle in addition to just putting it on the wedge - could result in better lubrication when pressing the wedge into the slot and a better, stronger glue joint when the glue dries.
This is a great way of recycling old tools. Can be use for pressing anything really. If it was me I would add a safety chain or something like that to connect to the shaft of the tool being just in case it decides to pop off or snap under pressure. Subscribed as well.
For future builds (saw you commented about a mk 2 design) your jack would provide greater force if it had equal load across the ram. Meaning due to the one sided adjustment rail, your jack had to push up and over to the right. You could save yourself alot of headache by replacing the square tubing with 2 pieces of 1/2" x 3 x ?? tall, flatstock. Make more of a "H" frame where the "-" is the moveable jig for holding the work. Would be easy to layout spacing on 1 part and drill both at the same time on your drill press. Join both rails from the top or backside (to avoid clearance issues) with equal thickness stock. Then instead of having welded anchor pins, they could be just long bolts or round stock that could be slid in from the side. I believe you will find alot more "oomph" this way in your existing jack. Hopefully this doesn't come across wrong. Not telling you how to do it, or anything like that. Just going off of what life's taught me. Keep creating and nice thought out idea for a very common issue. Simple solution with mechanical advantage, what's not to love!?
another awesome piece man, I need a press badly. more so a bigger one for wheel bearings for cars ect. but thats still awesome for the little engine repairs you do.
The square-section uses as a stopper should have cross-bracing. That machine can develop a fearsome pressure and if not used carefully, the square section could bend and give way. Having said that, the workmanship is first class.
Love the logic I need to install a wedge in an axe handle. I know I'll build a press! LOL once again excellent craftsmanship. Thoroughly enjoyed watching your video.
it looks too beautiful to use.....it looks like an awful lot of work for an axe wedge but if i ever needed to make a home made tool or some welding i would love to have you do it for me,,,,,your attention to detail is great.
When I was a young motorcycle mechanic in Ireland in 1979, I made a press for straightening fork tubes using a bottle jack like this, after much welding and buying of steel I found out that bottle jacks didn't work upside down, if only we had the internet in those days!
When polishing small pieces like that i glued a strong magnet to the underside of my table into a square i had nitched out that kept 1/16 of wood from magnet to meterial. Ever since then i havnt lost small pieces ive polished on my table.
I know you're not going believe this but a hammer blow can have a momentary force that is several orders of magnitude greater than your hydraulic jack. The key to understanding this is time. The jack can sustain force whereas the hammers peaks and falls quickly. Thousandth of a second quickly. Meaning: stick with the hammer and just don't hit it so damn hard.
Out of curiosity isn’t the base of the jack made from cast steel? If it is the Weld’s will fail over time. Can’t see you having any problems since the jack just goes up and down but you could hit the jack side on and it would ping straight off the base plate. Just incase you are not aware of the problems with welding cast steel. If it’s not cast then my apologies and great job
Another great project. After watching your chainsaw restoration I came here I see you used this to aid in the pressing of the bearings in that video. This press will have multiple uses. I do think you should have welded a heavy gusset from the base to the tube opposite the jack that would increase the strength. Nice work !!!
Seems like a lot of work when u could just drive that wedge gently with a hammer (which I've done a couple times)... maybe there's something I'm missing
I've broken more wooden wedges driving them with a hammer than I care to admit. this looks like it'd go way deeper because of the even pressure across the wedge.
VideosUnrelated this isn't a bad idea if you make axes regularly. But to be honest, if he does, you would think he would have done a better job of his belt sander! It was squirreling around all over the place! I made one myself, my own design, and it's a solid piece of kit, and I only have it as a hobby tool!
+Shona O'Neill the belt grinder works fine I'd say. If you push too hard laterally on a belt it tracks back to where it was. And I'm not sure what you think I do, but all my stuff is a hobby, including my belt grinder hobby tool.
How did the weld on the jack base hold up? The one time I tried to weld a jack to something the bead cracked straight down the middle, due to its being cast.
How many axes do you go through where you have to be constantly putting wedges in them? Maybe all this time and effort should have been spent on building a wood splitter.
It looks like you lengthened the 2 dowels and enlarged the alignment holes to fix the issue with the top block from sliding out. How did that fix the issue?
How often do you put new handle on your ax? Maybe the issue is not with how you get the wedge in but rather what are you doing wrong with your axes that you need to re-hang them so often...
Wow, definitely a well fabricated press, albeit somewhat overkill for pressing axe wedges. Kinda like building a heated 5000 sq/ft garage just to store a tank of gas and a lawnmower. And you really gotta love that lawnmower.
It appears you've made a very handy press for small work. The kind of stuff that can go bad when you're using a 100 ton one because that's what you've got. Personally, it would never had occurred to me to press a wooden wedge into an axe or hammer handle in the first place but seeing it done, it's an excellent idea! I'll start doing it. I will use the big press however, 'cause that's what I've got! My only suggestions would be to not weld the jack to the base but to trap it loosely in some bent up 1/4" square stock. Same type of thing with the screw plate. I'd make a collar and weld that to the plate and let it drop over the screw. That way the jack can be used for other things. One thing of a design nature I would do is to move the jack placement away from the column maybe as much as a few inches so you can use it to get to the center of things a little larger but still in that small stuff range. To those that say it won't get used much I'd say, if you don't have one you'll never use it. Its the same reason millions of dollars worth of fire trucks stay in the station day after day, you only need 'em, when you need 'em. I appreciate the effort and time it takes to create both the videos and bringing the ideas in your mind into reality.
From the comments I see I missed the purpose behind this tool, is it for putting the wedge into an axe handle? I watched the video, payed attention to your work expecting a huge climax but then I got a big tool for doing a little task. I'm one who believes in working smarter not harder and have made several different tools over the years to make different jobs easier. I guess I missed the purpose behind this tool. Excellent work on making your tool either way.
It’s gorgeous, but it seems like an awful lotta work to build that to drive a wedge, unless maybe you make/repair axes for a living? Doesn’t really matter, was a blast to watch! Glad I sud’d.
I've GOT TO build me one of these! I have a 10 TON Bottle Jack that would be PERFECT for Cedar! This is the Pinnacle of Engineering Mastery! Thanks for sharing this. :-) -Thomas Port Orchard, Washington
Design issue/flaw/me griping: You should have welded the upright in place first. Then you could have welded all four sides. As is, you (apparently) did not weld the side next to the jack and that's where the stress will be. It will always try and pivot away from the jack there as load is applied and now that's the weakest point. Had it been welded you wouldn't have to worry about all four sides of the jack base; it could be almost tack welded, since it'll be pushing down on the flat plate and can never move, anyway. Also, should have welded a thick washer or short piece of round tube to the bottom of the plate you welded to the jack screw. Then you could have just let it sit there instead and retained the screw, allowing for fine adjustments for various other jobs.
wow, seems like a well thought out build, but how many wedges do you really have to press in? People have been changing axe handles forever without that contraption; while decently built, I cant help but think the time to build is 100x greater than all the wedge driving one does in their whole life.
Ha not much at all! I am very much a rookie welder! I have an old arc welder that I'm pretty rubbish on. Just got a MIG welder that I used for the first time in this project. Thanks
I was thinking you should have made the jack upper plate circular for unscrewing the piston to make it taller, but since you made the pole really adjustable it won't make a big difference nice project
I like the concept and may utilize parts of the design in the future, but it seems overkill for this particular project. Did you consider just using your 3 ton farm jack first? They are very versatile. I suspect that even a pipe clamp would have sufficed in this instance. Perhaps even a rope loop with a Spanish windlass. I tend toward the simplest solutions.
This sir is hands down the best repurpose for an old bottle Jack and will be a future build & piddling project well done sir well done!
I'm sure you got a kick out of the project,it's been done many times before,but you did a top notch job and we'll worthy of my 5 ☆ rating
Great works and craftmanship !
I need a small press just like this. Your design is simpler and cost effective by utilizing a single rectangular pipe and adding 2 bolts to the limiting plate. What I was thinking is basically scaled down version of full size manual hydraulic press. After I saw your video, I realized I don't need side rectangular pipes for a small press having head traveling upto 8 inches.
Thank you.
Fascinating! I take it you re-handle a lot of axes? It’s great to see a how-to video where the craftsman is thorough and meticulous, prepping the metal properly and priming and painting the finished project. I don’t need this particular tool, but I’m subscribing to see what else you come up with! Thanks.
Thanks for showing this straight up without any crappy background music
Bbnnjj owrirb bb bbn kk Jo
Ki
I'm genuinely shocked that bottle jack wasn't cast iron and took the weld so well.
This is great work. Maybe on the next prototype you add a return spring, but this looks very functional and precise as-is.
joedanger666 the cheaper newer versions are usually just plate on the bottom and contrary to belief you can mig cast iron as long as it's not super structural. I repaired a broken bearring race on a belt sander 3 years ago and still going.
Great idea for making a press and nice fabrication. For putting in wedges or pushing out old handles I have two bench vices mounted one in front of the other a foot apart. One holds the axe. One holds the bottle jack. Easy to tap in a wedge and push it in with the jack. To push a broken handle out use a piece of steel that will slide through the eye. Hold on end of eye and push through with the bottle jack.
Drilling,grinding,welding,sanding. the sweet sound of a workshop
Watching this gave me an idea to make a bottle jack wood splitter!
Great work. I wish you would have demonstrated it by splitting a log. Thanks.
I have just watched this video. You are an awesome craftsman and I would let you build anything I wanted built.... I really like how you took the time and done everything slow and right the first time (not including the little miscalculation, I liked that as well )
Great idea. You now have a useful tool from an old bottle jack, some tubing and plate.
That's just some brilliant outside the box thinking and design.
For those of us who want to weld, but haven’t taken the time to learn, could you add some brief information about the welding process you used, and the type of rod, if that is important to this welding process in this situation. This could be added to the “show more” box, without adding anything to the video. This is a great idea and a really well made video. Thanks for the excellent tip for reusing a bottle jack for various purposes around the shop, including as a wedge jack when rehandling axes. Consider squirting some glue into the slot in the axe handle in addition to just putting it on the wedge - could result in better lubrication when pressing the wedge into the slot and a better, stronger glue joint when the glue dries.
This is a great way of recycling old tools. Can be use for pressing anything really. If it was me I would add a safety chain or something like that to connect to the shaft of the tool being just in case it decides to pop off or snap under pressure. Subscribed as well.
Very nice tool ,wide range of uses no doubt .Hello from Jamaica
Very well made, well done. Also, suggest soaking the axehead in a bucket of water over night. It swells the wood and makes it even tighter.
For future builds (saw you commented about a mk 2 design) your jack would provide greater force if it had equal load across the ram. Meaning due to the one sided adjustment rail, your jack had to push up and over to the right. You could save yourself alot of headache by replacing the square tubing with 2 pieces of 1/2" x 3 x ?? tall, flatstock. Make more of a "H" frame where the "-" is the moveable jig for holding the work. Would be easy to layout spacing on 1 part and drill both at the same time on your drill press. Join both rails from the top or backside (to avoid clearance issues) with equal thickness stock. Then instead of having welded anchor pins, they could be just long bolts or round stock that could be slid in from the side. I believe you will find alot more "oomph" this way in your existing jack. Hopefully this doesn't come across wrong. Not telling you how to do it, or anything like that. Just going off of what life's taught me. Keep creating and nice thought out idea for a very common issue. Simple solution with mechanical advantage, what's not to love!?
another awesome piece man, I need a press badly. more so a bigger one for wheel bearings for cars ect. but thats still awesome for the little engine repairs you do.
Do you have a rotary phase converter to run 3 phase motor off single phase power?
The square-section uses as a stopper should have cross-bracing. That machine can develop a fearsome pressure and if not used carefully, the square section could bend and give way.
Having said that, the workmanship is first class.
Love the logic I need to install a wedge in an axe handle. I know I'll build a press! LOL once again excellent craftsmanship. Thoroughly enjoyed watching your video.
Hey, great video! Awesome talent and craftsmanship. I also appreciate a "shop sights and sounds" video without annoying music.
Wow very nice. I'm glad I've got a powerplasma cutter though. I hated cutting plate with an angle grinder.
it looks too beautiful to use.....it looks like an awful lot of work for an axe wedge but if i ever needed to make a home made tool or some welding i would love to have you do it for me,,,,,your attention to detail is great.
These videos are so satisfying to watch. They sparking me to do some with my skillz
Nice work! Which trade name of welding machine used ? Sorry for my bad english !
Looks easier than the Ibeam press to make nice job!
When I was a young motorcycle mechanic in Ireland in 1979, I made a press for straightening fork tubes using a bottle jack like this, after much welding and buying of steel I found out that bottle jacks didn't work upside down, if only we had the internet in those days!
Haha I started planning this horizontally until I realized the bottle jack only worked vertically! Haha
I learned the hard way, sadly.
When polishing small pieces like that i glued a strong magnet to the underside of my table into a square i had nitched out that kept 1/16 of wood from magnet to meterial. Ever since then i havnt lost small pieces ive polished on my table.
Very good idea, but and the oil inside the bottle jack after all this change?
So when the weather is nice hand tool rescue goes outside and works with everything but hand tools? Or is it vice versa?
Very nice
Beautiful craftsmanship
What happens if the wedge is split? Or is it more of a cosmetic issue?
Is the base of the jack cast? If so, does that make welding more difficult? I'm new to welding.
Great idea for pressing ball bearings in place! Now I know how to diy such a brilliant and compact device!
Very nice. Enjoyed it. How can I learn to weld? What’s the best starter welder?
Wonderful idea. Was wondering the whole time what you were making than blew my mind in the end
Nice job & workshop, just noticed the grinder/sander video, so going to watch that. Thank you.
How did you weld between the bottle jack and box section? Is there an edge unwelded?
I know you're not going believe this but a hammer blow can have a momentary force that is several orders of magnitude greater than your hydraulic jack. The key to understanding this is time. The jack can sustain force whereas the hammers peaks and falls quickly. Thousandth of a second quickly. Meaning: stick with the hammer and just don't hit it so damn hard.
Out of curiosity isn’t the base of the jack made from cast steel? If it is the Weld’s will fail over time. Can’t see you having any problems since the jack just goes up and down but you could hit the jack side on and it would ping straight off the base plate. Just incase you are not aware of the problems with welding cast steel. If it’s not cast then my apologies and great job
Another great project. After watching your chainsaw restoration I came here I see you used this to aid in the pressing of the bearings in that video. This press will have multiple uses. I do think you should have welded a heavy gusset from the base to the tube opposite the jack that would increase the strength. Nice work !!!
What kind of welding machine do you use, or how is it done?
This is what life’s all about - men in sheds making stuff ! Excellent !
Great construction, good setup 👍
Nice build and great idea. Cool video too!
It doesn't look like you can extend the top of the bottle jack now by rotating it. Did you mean to do that or don't you need that function?
Seems like a lot of work when u could just drive that wedge gently with a hammer (which I've done a couple times)... maybe there's something I'm missing
I've broken more wooden wedges driving them with a hammer than I care to admit. this looks like it'd go way deeper because of the even pressure across the wedge.
VideosUnrelated dude same
VideosUnrelated this isn't a bad idea if you make axes regularly. But to be honest, if he does, you would think he would have done a better job of his belt sander! It was squirreling around all over the place! I made one myself, my own design, and it's a solid piece of kit, and I only have it as a hobby tool!
+Shona O'Neill the belt grinder works fine I'd say. If you push too hard laterally on a belt it tracks back to where it was. And I'm not sure what you think I do, but all my stuff is a hobby, including my belt grinder hobby tool.
Shona O'Neill I would enjoy seeing you post a video on it so we could all learn from you.
How did the weld on the jack base hold up? The one time I tried to weld a jack to something the bead cracked straight down the middle, due to its being cast.
Tiggollum53 yes that was the only part of the job lacking 'elegance', I thought, welding cast iron to MS. I would use bolts.
Really interesting idea great project but I was for some reason thinking that it was going to be a kindling splitter a axe press lol
Wow, really great idea and job! Well Done!
Excellent welding technique, congrats from Argentina
Thanks mate, this means a lot considering it's my first MIG welding project! Gotta love youtube videos for learning....haha
I think the gloss black and metallic white is the best signature colour for your chanel..
How many axes do you go through where you have to be constantly putting wedges in them? Maybe all this time and effort should have been spent on building a wood splitter.
It looks like you lengthened the 2 dowels and enlarged the alignment holes to fix the issue with the top block from sliding out. How did that fix the issue?
He drilled trough the pipe, so there is now 4 points of support in total. He didnt enlarge the holes, it just looks like it.
Hellsong89 Got it, that make more sense. Thanks.
what else can it be used for, corking bottles maybe.
Nice little bearing press as well.
Nice job.... You have given me an idea..... Thanks for all your videoing too.. I know that take time to edit...
How do u unscrew the plate off the bottle Jack?
how far apart are you drilling your holes
Very neat,
I'm now making a bearing press.
Thanks.
How many cutoff wheels did you exactly go through?
That was a very nicely done project. I love projects where I can make things with my everlast welder.
How often do you put new handle on your ax? Maybe the issue is not with how you get the wedge in but rather what are you doing wrong with your axes that you need to re-hang them so often...
Wow, definitely a well fabricated press, albeit somewhat overkill for pressing axe wedges. Kinda like building a heated 5000 sq/ft garage just to store a tank of gas and a lawnmower. And you really gotta love that lawnmower.
It appears you've made a very handy press for small work. The kind of stuff that can go bad when you're using a 100 ton one because that's what you've got. Personally, it would never had occurred to me to press a wooden wedge into an axe or hammer handle in the first place but seeing it done, it's an excellent idea! I'll start doing it. I will use the big press however, 'cause that's what I've got!
My only suggestions would be to not weld the jack to the base but to trap it loosely in some bent up 1/4" square stock. Same type of thing with the screw plate. I'd make a collar and weld that to the plate and let it drop over the screw. That way the jack can be used for other things.
One thing of a design nature I would do is to move the jack placement away from the column
maybe as much as a few inches so you can use it to get to the center of things a little larger but still in that small stuff range.
To those that say it won't get used much I'd say, if you don't have one you'll never use it. Its the same reason millions of dollars worth of fire trucks stay in the station day after day, you only need 'em, when you need 'em.
I appreciate the effort and time it takes to create both the videos and bringing the ideas in your mind into reality.
What brand cutoff wheels? Seem to last pretty good.
I'm a little surprised that you use wd as a cutting oil though.
do you think it's bad for our eyes to look at the screen when you weld?
Great video and a great project, but? Why not just tap the wedge in with the mallet?
Where are ya, Will? Love your videos! Hope all is well and we see you soon! Greetings from Boston, MA, U.S.A.
Life has been hectic. Got one in the works, hopefully I can finish it soon :) thanks!
Excellent!
I really really like that, you did an excellent job.
are you welding galvanized that beamed looks treated
Can we use this machine to log splitting
What type of welding was that
From the comments I see I missed the purpose behind this tool, is it for putting the wedge into an axe handle? I watched the video, payed attention to your work expecting a huge climax but then I got a big tool for doing a little task. I'm one who believes in working smarter not harder and have made several different tools over the years to make different jobs easier. I guess I missed the purpose behind this tool. Excellent work on making your tool either way.
It’s gorgeous, but it seems like an awful lotta work to build that to drive a wedge, unless maybe you make/repair axes for a living? Doesn’t really matter, was a blast to watch! Glad I sud’d.
I've GOT TO build me one of these!
I have a 10 TON Bottle Jack that would be PERFECT for Cedar!
This is the Pinnacle of Engineering Mastery!
Thanks for sharing this. :-)
-Thomas
Port Orchard, Washington
Another fantastic job, great video.
Good job friend. Just because i'm new on this what kind of welding is this at 04:35?
Neat build!
I also love it when people speed up their videos like yours. I think it's hilarious
Design issue/flaw/me griping: You should have welded the upright in place first. Then you could have welded all four sides. As is, you (apparently) did not weld the side next to the jack and that's where the stress will be. It will always try and pivot away from the jack there as load is applied and now that's the weakest point. Had it been welded you wouldn't have to worry about all four sides of the jack base; it could be almost tack welded, since it'll be pushing down on the flat plate and can never move, anyway.
Also, should have welded a thick washer or short piece of round tube to the bottom of the plate you welded to the jack screw. Then you could have just let it sit there instead and retained the screw, allowing for fine adjustments for various other jobs.
do you ever make things for scrap, you know when something comes into your head, something youd like to try and make,
So satisfying to watch you are a skilled man keep up the great work
Could someone explain what he does at 13:56 - 14:05 ? I mean is it like use of reaction force to insert the wood into metal?
Wow I'm shocked, Beautiful work !!
wow, seems like a well thought out build, but how many wedges do you really have to press in? People have been changing axe handles forever without that contraption; while decently built, I cant help but think the time to build is 100x greater than all the wedge driving one does in their whole life.
Neat idea!
Gotta send him some of that paint remover spray you're fond of..
:)
Hand Tool Rescue מעשנת
Hand Tool Rescue qqqqqqqaaaaq
You and Will are master of restorations.
ua-cam.com/video/HMRoxx1GpTk/v-deo.html
Amazing work ! Congratulations !
I love the ingenuity! Turned out well!
Золотые руки, молодец мужик, прям с большой буквы МУЖИК!!!
Конструкция простая и надёжная. Можно запрессовать сайлентблоки и т.д. амортизатор можно сжимать?
Ну да и главное удобно. Даже можно и с машины не снимать.:))))
This is sweet. But your arc voltage is a bit too high, that’s why it’s so loud. Only needs a small adjustment tho
That steel chew those cutting discs like crazy. How many cutting discs you had to use?
Ah probably 3 to get through those various cuts in the plate
What type of welding do you do? (i am a newcomer)
Ha not much at all! I am very much a rookie welder! I have an old arc welder that I'm pretty rubbish on. Just got a MIG welder that I used for the first time in this project. Thanks
Will Matthews. Try scoring steel with grinder then cut with sawzaw cuts faster the scoring guides blade
I was thinking you should have made the jack upper plate circular for unscrewing the piston to make it taller, but since you made the pole really adjustable it won't make a big difference
nice project
I like the concept and may utilize parts of the design in the future, but it seems overkill for this particular project. Did you consider just using your 3 ton farm jack first? They are very versatile. I suspect that even a pipe clamp would have sufficed in this instance. Perhaps even a rope loop with a Spanish windlass. I tend toward the simplest solutions.
you can attach a Axe head to the jack too or the top and split logs same Principle
Your sander is fantastic.